Rookwood 
Pomry  ^ 

(Cincinnati « « « • 


Rookwood’$  Ristory « 

The  Pottery  was  founded  in  1880  by  Mrs. 
Maria  Longworth  Storer,  who  named  it  Rook- 
wood,  after  her  father’s  country  estate  near  the 
city.  In  1883  Mr.  W.  W.  Taylor  assumed  the 
active  direction  of  the  works  as  the  partner  of 
Mrs.  Storer.  Upon  her  retirement  in  1890 
she  transferred  her  interest  to  Mr.  Taylor,  who 
formed  the  present  company,  and  under  his 
direction  as  president  the  present  buildings 
were  finished  in  1892.  They  crown  the  sum- 
mit of  Mt.  Adams,  one  of  the  city  hills,  and 
while  remarkably  picturesque  in  themselves, 
they  command  in  every  direction  beautiful 
views  of  the  river,  the  city  and  its  suburbs. 

The  Pottery  is  managed  on  lines  opposite  to 
the  prevailing  factory  system,  as  the  effort  is  to 
attain  a higher  art  rather  than  cheaper  pro- 
cesses. Absolutely  no  printing  patterns  are 
used  nor  any  duplicates  made.  A spirit  of 
freedom  and  liberality  has  prevailed  in  order 


to  cultivate  in  every  way  individual  artistic 
feeling  among  the  workers  employed. 

The  decorators  comprise  both  men  and 
women,  and  are  drawn  mainly  from  the  Art 
Academy  of  Cincinnati.  The  decorations  are 
entirely  on  the  moist  clay  before  any  firing,  the 
colors  being  mixed  with  clay  and  becoming 
part  of  the  ware  itself.  The  pieces,  after 
decoration,  are  fired  into  biscuit  and  the 
various  glazes  are  applied  in  subsequent  firings. 
These  methods  while  necessary  to  produce  the 
beautiful  underglaze  effects  of  Rookwood  are 
rarely  used  elsewhere  as  they  increase  so  largely 
the  risks  and  expense  of  manufacture. 

The  clays  in  use  for  all  purposes  are  entirely 
American  and  mainly  from  the  Ohio  Valley. 
These  native  clays  from  the  start  inclined  the 
color  quality  toward  yellows,  browns  and  reds, 
and  the  decorative  medium  lent  itself  to  a 
rather  luxuriant  style  of  ornament  in  rich 
arrangements  of  warm  color,  all  of  which  the 
transparent  glazes  merge  in  deep,  mellow  tones. 


As  the  command  of  material  has  strengthened, 
the  beauty  of  the  ware  has  steadily  gained  in 
a harmony  of  all  the  elements  which  com|>osc 
it,  until  form,  color,  decoration  and  glaze 
combine  to  produce  those  things  of  beauty 
which  elude  all  attempts  to  imitate  and  make 
Rookwood  a complete  novelty  in  the  world 
ceramics.  It  would  be  an  error  however  to 
infer  that  Rookwood  is  limited  to  a warm 
yellow,  or  red  tone,  for  even  dark  pieces  have 
often  been  relieved  with  deep  rich  greens  and 
blues,  and  there  has  latterly  developed  an  im- 
portant series  of  light  arrangements  in  what 
are  known  as  ‘‘Aerial  Blue,’^  “Iris”  and  “Sea 
Green.”  But  in  each  of  these  we  find  the 
same  mellow  tone,  the  same  brilliant  glaze,  as 
pleasant  to  the  touch  as  to  the  eye, — the  same 
essential  characteristics  of  Rookwood. 


H Ui$it  to  Rookwood  « 

Rookwood  is  open  to  visitors  daily,  except 
on  the  afternoon  of  Saturday,  which  is  always 
a half  holiday.  The  ride  from  the  Cincinnati 
Postoffice  on  the  Zoo  and  Eden  Park  line  takes 
less  than  ten  minutes,  including  the  elevation 
of  the  car  on  the  Mt.  Adams  Inclined  Plane, 
one  of  the  experiences  a visitor  to  Cincinnati 
is  likely  to  seek.  It  is  also  over  this  road  one 
reaches  the  Art  Museum  in  Eden  Park,  as 
well  as  the  Zoological  Garden. 

Attendants  are  always  present  to  explain  the 
complicated  processes  through  which  the  ware 
passes.  One  sees  the  preparation  of  the  clay 
and  watches  the  potter  at  his  wheel  or  other 
workmen  casting  the  clay  in  molds.  Then  the 
decorated  ware  in  the  clay  and  in  biscuit,  and 
the  great  kilns  are  to  be  inspected.  Finally  when 
the  visitor  sees  the  endless  variety  of  finished 
work  it  is  with  better  understanding  of  the  ex- 
treme and  costly  risks  incurred  in  its  production. 


Rookwood  marks « 


Impressed  in  the  clay.  The 
regular  mark  from  1882,  the 
date  changing  each  year,  un- 
til 1886. 


'This  mark  was  adopted  in  1886. 

i 

The  flame  at  the  top  indicates  1887. 


The  addition  of  a flame  each 
year  makes  the  1895  mark  and 
so  on. 

It  is  also  oustomary  for  purposes  of  record,  to  stamp  on 
the  bottom  of  each  piece  a shape  number  with  a letter 
indicating  size,  and  another  letter  referring  to  the  color  of 
the  clay  used  in  the  body  of  the  piece,  W for  white,  etc. 
The  decorators  also  cut  their  initials  in  the  clay  on  the 
bottom  of  pieces  painted  by  them. 


ROOKWOOD 

1882 


9fM 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/rookwoodpotteryOOrook 


